Sexual assault reporting rates within national military academies are low and have significantly dropped, according to the Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD released results from the Academic Program Year 2007-2008 Service Academy Gender Relations Survey in December. The

According to a new Department of Justice (DOJ) report, the rates of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence in the United States have soared over the past two years. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), a b...

Pamphlets distributed by the Taliban in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan yesterday impose a ban on co-educational schooling in the region. According to the

Two Illinois pharmacists will be able to challenge in court an administrative rule that requires state pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception (EC) after the Illinois Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision denying their case last week. The case (see

California Attorney General Jerry Brown made public his opposition to Proposition 8 Friday in a brief to the California Supreme Court while "Yes on 8" forces filed a brief extending their opposition to include invalidation of the same-sex marriages already performed in there. California's Supreme Co...

Hilda Solis, a leader and fighter for civil rights for women and people of color, has been chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to be his Secretary of Labor. "I am thrilled by the nomination of Hilda Solis, who has been a long-time stron...

Regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that threaten women's access to contraception and comprehensive health care were released in their final version yesterday. The regulation establishes new protections for health care providers who refuse to provide certain services b...

Feminist and LGBT activists expressed outrage following Wednesday's announcement that Reverend Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of California's Saddleback Church, will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony on January 20th. In

Afghan journalist Farida Nekzad was honored by the International Women's Media Foundation with a Courage in Journalism Award for her support of women's rights and freedom of the press in Afghanistan. As the managing editor and deputy director of Pajhwok Afghan News, the leading independent news agen...

A petition to amend the Missouri consitution to ban affirmative action was approved for circulation by Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan last week. The ban, proposed by the

Only three vacancies remain in President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet, and women have been appointed to only four of the filled positions, which is less than even President Clinton's appointees in 1992 and equal to President Bush's appointees in 2000. "Women's groups who have been hoping for an ...

Thousands of Congolese women marched in Kinshasa yesterday to denounce sexual violence against women and children as a tactic of war. Marie-Ange Lukiana, the Congo's Women and Children's Affairs Minister, led the march, calling sexual violence a weapon used "to spread AIDS," according to

A statewide survey released yesterday by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts found that staff at several hospitals may be in violation of a 2005 state law that requires emergency rooms to offer emergency contraception (EC) to rape survivors. The

A resolution that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman was tabled at a Sioux City, Iowa city council meeting last night. According to the Des Moines Register the city ...

In a speech celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced last week his nation's full acceptance of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the 1979 treaty that bans ...

In Australia, the state Parliament of Victoria voted earlier this month to expand in vitro fertilization (IVF) laws so that single and lesbian women will have legal access to IVF. Previously, single and lesbian women were required to be clinically infertile in order to receive IVF treatment. The le...

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel voted unanimously to approve a second generation female condom last week. The device is cheaper than female condoms that are currently available, is easier to produce, and uses a soft new material. The panel advised that instructions for the new device r...

The Vatican issued a comprehensive doctrinal ethics guide Friday that reaffirms opposition to contraception, in vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, genetic testing, and cloning. The document, entitled

The New Jersey State Civil Union Review Commission has found that the state's civil union law does not provide the same protections to gay couples as marriage does to heterosexual couples. The commission found that "the separate cat...

Late Wednesday night, the Senate passed by unanimous consent the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act that was passed earlier in the day by the House. The Act, H.R. 7311, authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 2008 through 2011 and enhances measures to combat trafficking in pe...